Autumn Glow stretched her unbeaten record to double digits with a smart-looking win in Saturday’s Group 1 Verry Elleegant Stakes at a mile at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.
Ridden by James McDonald, Autumn Glow closed from fourth with a wide rally to reach the front in the final furlong. A Southern Hemisphere 4-year-old filly, Autumn Glow (who paid $2.40 in American pools) won by slightly less than a half-length over 11-1 Aeliana in a field of nine.
Autumn Glow and Aeliana are trained by Chris Waller, who started seven of the runners in the $712,300 Verry Elleegant Stakes.
Of her 10 wins, Autumn Glow has won six group-level races.
Autumn Glow, by the Redoute’s Choice stallion The Autumn Sun, had her first start of 2026 in the Veerry Elleegant Stakes. In the final months of 2025, she won the Group 1 Epsom Handicap at a mile at Randwick in October, and the $6.55 million Golden Eagle Stakes for Southern Hemisphere 4-year-olds at 7 1/2 furlongs at Randwick in November.
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The Group 1 George Ryder Stakes at 7 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney on March 21 has been mentioned as a goal for Autumn Glow.
Makybe Diva dead at 27
Makybe Diva, who won a record three consecutive runnings of the Melbourne Cup in Australia from 2003 to 2005, has died of colic, according to a statement published on Saturday by Racing Victoria.
Makybe Diva was 27.
In a career that began in July 2002 and ended with her third win in the Melbourne Cup in November 2005, Makybe Diva won 15 of 36 starts. She was inducted into Australia’s racing Hall of Fame in 2006.
Makybe Diva is the only three-time winner of the Melbourne Cup, a world-famous two-mile handicap that was first run in 1861. There have been four two-time winners.
A British-bred mare by Desert King, Makybe Diva won seven Group 1 races, including the 2005 Cox Plate at about 1 ¼ miles, Australia’s leading weight-for-age race at that distance.
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